Trump Revokes Security Detail for Mark Esper, Former Defense Secretary

President Trump has revoked the security detail for Mark T. Esper, a former defense secretary who is among several officials who are facing threats from Iran because of actions they took on behalf of the president during his first term, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

It was not immediately clear when Mr. Esper’s security detail was called off. A White House spokesman and a Pentagon official did not immediately comment. Mr. Esper declined to comment.

Mr. Esper is the latest former senior U.S. official to have his security detail pulled since Mr. Trump, who has also faced threats from Iran, took office. Pentagon officials last week removed Mr. Esper’s portrait as secretary of the Army.

Within hours of his inauguration, Mr. Trump began to systematically pull security details from nearly a half-dozen people who had served in his first term. The U.S. intelligence community has said Iran has sought revenge against American officials involved in the drone strike that killed Iran’s Gen. Qassim Suleimani in early January 2020.

Mr. Esper was protected by federal officials because of ongoing threats from Iran. Four other officials from Mr. Trump’s first administration facing Iranian threats also had their details pulled. The others are: John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser; Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state; Brian Hook, one of Mr. Pompeo’s top aides and a specialist on Iran; and the retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, who Mr. Trump picked to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Those security details were provided by the Biden administration based on assessments from the intelligence community that the threats from Iran were ongoing and credible. The Biden administration had briefed the incoming Trump administration about the threats.

Mr. Trump also pulled protection from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the infectious diseases doctor who had advised the White House on its response to the coronavirus pandemic, and who has become a target among Mr. Trump’s supporters.

Mr. Trump, himself a target of Iran who is guaranteed federal security protection for life as a president and former president, has said that all the men in question are not guaranteed security for life, that all made enough money to pay for it themselves, and that he would feel no responsibility should something happen to them.

In some cases, the targets are people whom Mr. Trump believes have wronged him in some way, either through criticism of him since he left office or actions they took while working in his first administration. But it has been difficult to discern the source of his disdain in at least one case.

Mr. Bolton and Mr. Esper have both been critics of Mr. Trump, and wrote memoirs detailing their time working with him. Mr. Pompeo mildly criticized Mr. Trump, considered running for president himself in 2024 and was late to endorse Mr. Trump, but has generally been supportive.

Mr. Hook is the most curious example. The former U.S. special representative for Iran, he has been nothing but supportive of Mr. Trump and was involved in the early stages of his current transition.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to impose maximum pressure on Iran to, among other things, prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. He said as he signed it that he wanted to ensure Tehran faced payback should it harm him.

“If they did that, they would be obliterated,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’ve left instructions if they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.”